Building on top of the blockchain, decentralized applications (dApps) present users with an alternative to traditional apps faster, cheaper, and more secure than ever before. The blockchain technology market worldwide is expected to cross a whopping $23.3 billion by 2023.
Notably, blockchain spending is not limited to security as it is now applicable in diverse industry verticals. The infographic below offers insights into blockchain use cases worldwide.
Source: Statista – Top Blockchain Use Cases Worldwide
The emergence of blockchain-based technologies has led to several different development platforms. Most of these platforms come with varying degrees of ease of use & interoperability with one another. It has led to some developers being reluctant to embrace this new technology despite its promise.
Moreover, with so many blockchain development platforms to choose from, how can you determine which one suits your innovative business idea or requirements? Well, while selecting a blockchain development platform, the following four factors play a critical role:
- The scalability offered by the platform.
- The overall structure of information is available and shared via the platform.
- Detailed documentation.
- The adoption rate of the platform into the community.
Based on these factors, here’s the list of top viable blockchain development platforms worldwide:
- XDC Network – Offering decentralized email & storage
- NEO – Efficiently deploys & scales smart contracts
- Hyperledger Fabric – Modular Architecture
- Hyperledger Sawtooth – Runs customized smart contracts
- Ripple – Versatile exchange network
- Stellar – Free from a central authority
- EOS – Experience speed, scalability, and flexibility
- Corda – Network transactions with strict privacy
- Quorum – Enhanced permissions management
- Tron – Experience affordable trading options
Let’s explore them in detail.
Kindly Note: This article’s financial or marketing information about any blockchain platform is valid as per research on 10-03-2022. Before proceeding with any of these platforms, kindly research any significant changes in the market scenario.
1) XDC Network – Offering decentralized email & storage
An XDC network is a chain of private, permissioned ledgers based on nodes, with no single entity controlling all or part of it. As a result, there’s no centralized oversight or control over transactions or wallet balances. No individual can manipulate balances independently (as possible in public chains).
It means that users can decide how their tokens move around—and they can’t suddenly have those tokens sold off in an exit scam. It also means that transaction fees are far lower than they would be in either public networks or traditional payment systems.
All XDC transactions occur between parties, rather than everyone watching everyone else. Thus this blockchain development platform eliminates the need for an intermediary to act as an escrow agent, which further reduces costs and speeds up exchange times.
The downside of XDC is that, as a private network, it is built and maintained by a centralized entity (that usually has some level of government oversight). If you want access to its services or tech protocols, you must get permission from authorities. It can lead to delays with KYC (know your customer) verification when opening accounts and similar hassles.
Notable Features of XDC Network:
- Enterprise-ready solution
- Open-source
- Hybrid blockchain protocol
- Convenient tokenization for real-world application
- Decentralized finance
2) NEO – Efficiently deploys & scales smart contracts
Developed by Chinese blockchain organization OnChain, NEO is a relatively new platform launched in 2014. However, it’s quickly grown in popularity because of its intelligent economy feature set, including decentralized commerce and identity verification.
The smart contract functionality on NEO allows developers to create a wide variety of dApps with ease and more trustworthiness than other platforms. On top of that, it supports multiple programming languages like C#, Java, Python, etc. It’s also worth noting that NEO is quite different from Ethereum.
Notable Features of NEO:
- Open-source
- Creates decentralized application
- Community driven
- High speeds of just-in-time (JIT) compilation
- Simplifies smart contract construction
3) Hyperledger Fabric – Modular Architecture
Source: Blockgeeks
Hyperledger Fabric is one of IBM’s many open-source projects, aiming to become an enterprise-grade blockchain framework. As one of the Hyperledger projects hosted by The Linux Foundation, it was built as a highly scalable and easy-to-use platform.
As part of its smart contract system, Hyperledger Fabric also implements chain code – snippets of code that determine how smart contracts are executed in a permissioned blockchain environment. Chaincode supports all programming languages, but popular choices include Golang and NodeJS (though it is possible to create your chaincode if necessary).
Notable Features of Hyperledger Fabric:
- Permissioned membership
- High performance
- Enhanced scalability
- Modular architecture
- Supporting tons of plug-in components
4) Hyperledger Sawtooth – Runs customized smart contracts
Hyperledger Sawtooth is an enterprise-grade, open-source blockchain solution designed to record and manage transactions of digital assets. It is also a modular platform that gives users a consensus algorithm to secure their blockchains. Users can opt for PoET (Proof of Elapsed Time), which offers low latency, or select PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance) if they need high availability.
Sawtooth was initially developed by Intel and released in 2018 as an open-source project on GitHub with support from Digital Asset and IBM. Hyperledger Sawtooth is licensed under Apache 2.0 and hosted by The Linux Foundation.
It operates using a consensus mechanism called Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET). Proof of elapsed time is a lottery-design consensus protocol that offers low latency and ensures fair distribution of rewards to miners.
PoET uses a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) or trusted hardware, such as Intel’s Software Guard Extensions (SGX), to generate random numbers within an allotted time frame. According to its documentation, Sawtooth leverages Intel SGX to provide the following:
- Secure key generation and management,
- Delivery of data,
- Batching messages,
- Computation,
- Client Authentication,
- Access control,
- Transaction ordering, and
- Ledger state synchronization.
Note: To ensure everyone participates fairly, it uses lottery-style mining where nodes are selected based on their IDs at random.
Notable Features of Hyperledger Sawtooth:
- Open-source
- Enterprise blockchain-as-a-service solution
- Non-forking consensus algorithm
- Flexible implementation of transaction updates
- Runs customized smart contracts
5) Ripple – Versatile exchange network
Ripple is a renowned real-time gross settlement system (RTGS), currency exchange, and remittance network. Ripple’s underlying technology allows banks to settle cross-border payments in real-time, with end-to-end transparency and lower costs.
Since being co-founded by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb in 2012, Ripple has signed on dozens of new financial institutions to its network. It has more than 300 financial institutions attached to it worldwide, as per a report of Nasdaq.
Notable Features of Ripple:
- Low-cost transactions
- High-speed transactions
- End-to-end transparency
- Quicker payment settlements
Stellar is a hybrid blockchain development platform that combines distributed ledger technology with peer-to-peer payment solutions. This blockchain platform was initially founded by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb, who sought to address Ripple’s flaws and create a faster network.
Stellar is witnessing an all-time high number of transactions in the blockchain world, which stands at 800,000 as per bravenewcoin. Moreover, IBM is now in partnership with Stellar, which serves as a big boost for adoption.
Notable Features of Stellar:
- Decentralized open source database
- High speed
- Enhances scalability
- No central authority
- Offers consensus protocol
7) EOS – Experience speed, scalability, and flexibility
With a total market cap of $1,944,475,113, EOS ranks high among cryptocurrencies in terms of overall market cap. It only launched a few years ago (January 2018), yet it’s already made its way onto many people’s radar as one of the most promising cryptocurrencies.
With EOS, users can build and deploy decentralized applications without paying transaction fees or suffering from slow confirmation times. This issue is otherwise frequent with Bitcoin when users try to make transactions. Given its current performance, you can be sure that there will be more talk about EOS in 2022 and beyond.
Notable Features of EOS:
- High flexibility
- Enhances scalability
- Quicker transactions
- More excellent stability of the network
- Free Accounts for the users
8) Corda – Network transactions with strict privacy
One of Hyperledger’s most popular projects, Corda is an open-source and one of the most popular blockchain development platforms developed by R3. The Hyperledger website touts Corda as a fully functional blockchain stack supporting distributed consensus and smart contracts. Some of its features include:
- Sandboxed environments that allow firms to test their products without risking real capital,
- Strong privacy controls, and
- Ready-made user interfaces that enable users to access critical transaction data via APIs.
The interface generates a JSON file of information about each participant on each node in an organization. Once done, participants can be added or removed using a simple REST API call. Notably, Corda offers high productivity in development and ensures faster development cycles. Hire blockchain developers in India to ensure affordable project development with the Corda platform.
Notable Features of Corda:
- Ensures transaction finality
- Ability to scale
- High privacy
- Ensures legally identified parties
- Offers high productivity in development
9) Quorum – Enhanced permissions management
The Quorum blockchain development platform is a permission table, enterprise-focused distributed ledger technology (DLT) from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). A crucial part of its design is that it doesn’t use mining to reach consensus and secure transactions — it uses voting pools instead.
While still using a Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus algorithm, Quorum eliminates mining competition by isolating it to only select participants while maintaining a relatively high level of decentralization with no individual entity in control.
Notable Features of Quorum:
- Voting-based consensus algorithm
- Enterprise-level platform
- Significantly higher performance
- Processes more than 100 transactions per second
- Ideal solution for the banking sector
10) Tron – Experience affordable trading options
Source: CoinSwitch Kuber
Tron is an ERC20 token and open-source protocol based on Ethereum. Tron is different from Ethereum because it allows more transactions to run faster while having zero transaction fees, supports smart contracts, and uses Proof of Stake instead of Proof of Work consensus algorithm.
To create decentralized applications using Tron, you can use any language compiled into WebAssembly, such as C++ or Rust. You also need to focus on the MainNet upgrade as there will be some compatibility issues when it happens, even though any DApps built on top of it should not be affected.
Notable Features of Tron:
- Supports up to 2000 transactions per second
- Uses Proof of Stake algorithm
- Lightning-fast transactions
- Offers inexpensive trading options
- Free transactions
Read Also: Top 4 Reasons To Embrace Blockchain For Agriculture Industry
Wrapping Up
There are many blockchain development platforms choices out there that can confuse and keep you from making a decision. It is essential first to figure out your business needs and make sure you have an open dialogue with the best blockchain software development company in India.
Additionally, be flexible enough to change as necessary if you are presented with a better option or find better blockchain development platforms once your project is underway. Use the following criteria when looking at platforms:
- Future growth potential,
- Company reputation,
- Public vs. Private chain support (if appropriate),
- Token standards used (if applicable),
- Regulatory considerations (for example, would want an enterprise-based platform in specific industries).
